Mages War
The Mages' War was a brief but destructive conflict between the Glorious Arcanaeum and the armed forces of Tomsim, Raven, and the Merrovian Empire. It began in the later winter of 2970 and was concluded with the Battle of the Two Forks in autumn of that year. As a result of the war, the Glorious Arcanaeum was forcibly dissolved, and the Mages' Guild was instituted to prevent any chance of another similar conflict. Background In 2590, following the slow decline of the Merrovian Empire and faced with the rising tide of anti-mage sentiment in Raven and Tomsim, a new nation was proposed by Cinos, a powerful wizard of the Merrovian tradition. This new nation would be a "nation of the mind", rather than a territorial claim. All arcanists, no matter their birthplace or route to magical power, would find like-minded colleagues and a philosophical welcome in the Glorious Arcanaeum. Initally dismissed and rejected by the major nations, many arcanists found themselves drawn to Cinos' "nation of the mind", and magical adepts of every stripe flocked to his banner. For most arcanists, membership of the Glorious Arcanaeum consisted of a brief, usually magically-supported journey to Cinos' court in the Merrovian desert, typically a few times a year, to meet with colleagues and other arcanists, and to enjoy the companionship and fellowship of like-minded people. However, as Cinos grew older, he began to use his influence over many of the world's arcanists to propose greater control by mages of every stripe. Appealing to the pride of his followers, he proposed the creation of a guild of mages, similar to the craftsmen's guilds that had for centuries regulated and protected their professional brethren. The proposal was widely accepted, and chapters of the Glorious Arcanaeum began to be founded in cities and large towns across the continent. While generally inoffensive and productive, some leaders voiced disquiet at the increased power the Glorious Arcanaeum offered to arcanists. A number of allegations of closed-shop behaviour emerged over the years and were quietly dismissed, and the increasing behind-the-scenes power of the Glorious Arcanaeum was kept concealed from the population at large. In 2665, the gnomish empire cessed to the Glorious Arcanaeum, providing the organisation with a huge influx of skilled, willing workers and huge tracts of land, including several large fortress-cities in the mountains. This sudden acquisition of power was met with alarm in the palaces of the world, but the Arcanaeum showed no interest in misusing its newfound power. Sibilyn In 2962 the General-Secretaryship of the Glorious Arcanaeum fell, in a heavily-disputed election, to Sibilyn of Raven, a powerful transmuter and Knower of Secrets, who had in his youth been a member of the fabled "Lion's Paw" adventuring band. Sibilyn had campaigned under a banner of restoring the pride of wizardry, proposing that, as the result of personal effort rather than magical chance, wizards were the most powerful and most respectable of the arcanists, and should therefore be granted greater authority within the Arcanaeum and greater respect outside it. While the non-wizarding members of the Arcanaeum were strongly opposed to Sibilyn's position, wizards had always made up the largest section of the Arcanaeum and he won with a respectable majority. Over the next few years, the Arcanaeum took on a much harder line with outsiders, especially governmental customers. Rates for the performance of magical services rose sharply, and the Arcanaeum forbade its members from serving in national militaries. Recruitment also became more strictly enforced, with non-Arcanaeum arcanists finding themselves cut off from suppliers and bullied into joining the organisation. Any magical business which agreed to trade with an non-Arcanaeum arcanist found that the Arcanaeum declared them off-limits, and this policy drove several firms out of business - and many more into the Arcanaeum's arms. With the increasing power of the Arcanaeum, Sibilyn expanded the settlement around the tower that had been Cinos' many years before, and encouraged arcanists to emigrate there. In 2968, he declared the independence of his settlement and the surrounding lands from the Merrovian Empire which, faced with the threat of the loss of all arcane magic, was forced to capitulate. Militarisation of the Arcanaeum The removal of all Arcanaeum arcanists from military organisations was considered a negotiating tactic by the world's militaries, who had come to rely on their arcanist members to provide reconnaissance, heavy artillery and other magical advantages. In fact, it was part of Sibilyn's long-term plan to establish a mage-state in the Merrovian desert. Ex-military arcanists were brought back to Cinos's Tower and formed into military units, under the command of Sibilyn's hand-picked lieutenants. In 2968, following the capitulation of the Merrovian Empire to his independence demand, Sibilyn deployed his forces and annexed two small towns in the nearby region. Appeasement and diplomacy The annexation of Dawadmi and Afif enraged the international community, but cooler - or more easily persuaded - heads prevailed and an open declaration of war was not promulgated. Instead, diplomats were dispatched to Cinos Tower, where they were met with all appropriate ceremony and treated well. Sibilyn himself met with emissaries of Tomsim and the Merrovian Empire, and claimed that the two towns had been harbouring Arcanaeum dissidents who were determined to depose him, by force if necessary, and the Arcanaeum had a responsibility to prevent such things from happening. Sibilyn also met with an envoy from the coastal city-states of the western Merrovian coast, who were close enough to Cinos Tower to feel a degree of nervousness at the militarisation of the Arcanaeum. Sibilyn publicly declared that the city-states had nothing to fear from him, but this declaration was denounced as mere "lip-service" by Adele, the largest of the states. Infuriated at this public disrespect, Sibilyn nonetheless maintained a pleasant public face. The annexation of desert towns However, it turned out that Sibilyn was not done expanding the borders of his new empire, and within months his armies were once again on the march. This time they pressed their assault much deeper into the western territories, capturing several small towns and accepting the surrender of the defenceless city of Southwash. This wave of violence, beginning in the summer of 2969, goaded the internation community into action - Sibilyn found himself roundly denounced, and several strongly-worded letters were written to him by world leaders, hoping to buy time to get their militaries into gear to fight Sibilyn. Destruction of Adele In the spring of 2970, Sibilyn began the third phase of his conquering march, heading north from the captured and helpless city of Southwash towards Adele, determined to revenge himself for the insult they had offered him. As he invested the city, large contingents of the Tomsim Militia, the Army of the Free City of Raven, and sixteen legions of the Merrovian armed forces approached his position. Unwilling to risk an extended siege which could result in his own army being trapped between the two forces, Sibilyn unleashed his secret weapon - the Men of Iron. These constructs marched on Adele, their skin proof against the best archer and their driving magic shielding them from any arcane assault. However, Sibilyn underestimated the challenge involved in controlling the Men of Iron, and what had been an assault became a sack. The Men of Iron were either unwilling or unable to accept surrenders, and slaughtered every living thing they could find within the city. Within a single day, the city of Adele became a mausoleum. An enormous proportion of Sibilyn's forces were so horrified by the slaughter that, at the peril of their own lives, they deserted that very day, fleeing to the encampments of the international forces, bearing their own magical power as well as valuable intelligence. The next morning, the armies of the world marched on Sibilyn's camps, supported by hundreds of defecting mages. Even his most loyal supporters quailed at the approaching forces, and in the moments before battle was joined, Sibilyn surrendered and permitted - some say caused - the destruction of the Men of Iron. Aftermath The immediate aftermath of Sibilyn's surrender remains a source of shame. Countless captured mages were killed, and Sibilyn himself was found dead in his tent that night. Even those mages that had defected to the allied armies were mistreated, and hundreds fled over the next few days. The other victims of the backlash were the Arcanaeum's gnome population. As the Arcanaeum's shopkeepers and traders, many gnomes were far from their ancestral lands, and found themselves the focus of angry retaliations, especially after the full details of Adele's destruction became widely known. Following several atrocities, the gnomish people retreated from the world to their fortress of Hardluck, where they remain to this day. Legacy The most significant legacy of the Mages War was the creation of the Mages' Guild, an organisation intended to subsume and replace the Glorious Arcanaeum, which would be led by "those who could be trusted". Almost no senior members of the Guild are arcanists, but membership is mandatory for any who wish to practice the arcane arts. While membership dues are slight, magical tools are used to ensure compliance with the tenets of the Guild - most significantly, that members will not attempt to recreate the Arcanaeum. Only a few groups of arcanists are not required to join the Guild. Bards are technically required to join, but this requirement is rarely enforced outside the Merrovian Empire. The warmages of the Monastery Pantenger are instead beholden to their Abbot, which even the most fanatical anti-mage zealot would accept is a far harsher rule than the Mages' Guild. Special teams of trained counter-arcanists are deployed by the Guild to hunt down and capture - or kill - arcanists who either refuse to join the Guild or those who leave it. While they are rarely sent after those seeking a quiet retirement, they are constantly on the watch for the next Sibilyn. Category:Wars